A passel of Occupy Wall Street activists will meet with leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus today, specifically about legislative issues: Ten organizers from New York’s OWS group will speak to the caucus about their legislative priorities, according to an email sent to Members and obtained by Roll Call. “This is the very first meeting [...]

More Democratic politicians embraced the #OccupyWallStreet protests today, supporting the core grievances of a broken economy and corporate influence as broadly similar to their own platforms. This includes the co-chairs of the Progressive Caucus, Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison, saying that “We share the anger and frustration of so many Americans who have seen the [...]

The biggest problem with the White House’s definitional strategy on the American Jobs Act was that Democrats didn’t really give it the full-throated support it needed to draw that contrast. By the end of last week, the White House was circling the wagons on that, and Democratic leaders stepped out to say that the jobs [...]

As near as I can tell, the only thing the Gang of Six has made more likely is default. It’s essentially the same deal that Eric Cantor and John Boehner rejected because it included tax increases. Maybe the increases are so vague and the abolition of the alternative minimum tax so attractive that this changes [...]

The Congressional Progressive Caucus has responded to President Barack Obama, who said progressives would have to be “sold” on deficit reduction. Specifically, he claimed that “if you are a progressive, you should be concerned about debt and deficit just as much as if you’re a conservative.” CPC Co-Chair Raul Grijalva had this to say: The [...]

Washington was buzzing yesterday about a Washington Post story about the cost of the war in Afghanistan, and how that may be a constraint on continuing the war. First of all, I don’t really believe this.

I suppose a lot of people here have little use for the Progressive Caucus. I wouldn’t venture to say they covered themselves in glory in this Congress. They still face problems of internal cohesion and discipline, as well as using candidate recruitment and fundraising as a tool for progressive outcomes. I think at least some [...]

The leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus want a meeting with Nancy Pelosi to urge her to hold a vote on the Bush tax cuts for the middle class, excluding the tax cuts on those making over $250,000. Raul Grijalva and Lynn Woolsey point out in the letter to Pelosi that this proposal would save [...]

The reviews are rolling in for the spending cut-heavy Bowles-Simpson recommendations. And nobody’s about to throw them a party. Here’s AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka: The chairmen of the Deficit Commission just told working Americans to ‘Drop Dead.’ Especially in these tough economic times, it is unconscionable to be proposing cuts to the critical economic lifelines [...]

I’ve said often that the area of common ground between Republicans and President Obama clearly was on the issue of education reform. They both believe in the talking points of merit pay, charter schools, and policies less friendly to teacher’s unions. Surely the two could hodl hands and union-bash together. Call it the “Nixon Goes [...]

The Progressive Caucus, despite greater numbers than the Blue Dogs, has never had the same impact on the national debate. They tried a co-chair framework this year, with Lynn Woolsey and Raul Grijalva leading the caucus. But Woolsey is just a poor communicator, and the split in the leadership served to weaken its message. Grijalva [...]